John Mauger, the commander of the First Coast Guard District, addressed the cameras last Thursday, four days had passed with no word on the fate of the Titan submersible or the five people it carried. Why was OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the vessel, allowed to put people in an uncertified and experimental submersible? Why had its leader, Stockton Rush, not heeded dire concerns about safety issues? Should we change a system in which so much effort and expense was devoted to the rescue of a few millionaires and adventurers, especially as thousands of migrants die at sea unattended? Which nation’s responsibility was this, and whose should it have been? What does the loss of the Titan mean for the future of human underwater research?The Polar Prince, the ship from which the submersible was launched, is of Canadian registry and based out of Canada. Salvatore Mercogliano is an associate professor of history at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N